Twenty-Fifth Dynasty

Saint Leibowitz

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May 11, 2020
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The Twenty-Fifth Dynasty of Egypt has the perfect potential for a new dual-civ leader.

Arising in Nubia in the 8th century BC, this dynasty took control of a land that was once Egypt's stomping ground in the northern culture's heyday, developed it into a powerful kingdom, and proceeded to conquer the crumbled remnants of Egypt, which had fragmented into regional warlords after the Bronze Age Collapse.

They were extremely devoted to the religion of Amun, which had spread southwards, and cast themselves as the restorers of ancient Egyptian tradition. Their rulers built pyramids for themselves and adopted most of the trappings of Egyptian culture. Their empire was thus both extremely Nubian and extremely Egyptian, the perfect kind of cultural fusion for a dual-civ leader.

I'm undecided on which of the dynasty's kings should represent them.

Alara - not technically part of the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty, as his family had not yet conquered Egypt, but the progenitor of this kingdom. Apparently the first to start Egyptianizing his own culture. Little else is known about him, was heavily mythologized by later Nubians. Probably a bad choice, although I guess he could work as some kind of religion or culture focused leader. His main achievement (importing a religion) is basically Mvemba a Nzinga's whole thing though.
Kashta - Alara's brother. Also not technically a 25thD Pharaoh, but begins the annexation of Egypt. Claims Upper Egypt (the southern half) by diplomacy rather than open conquest. Annexed that land by getting his daughter Amenirdis installed as High Priestess of Amun, which... somehow made that part of his kingdom? I'm fuzzy on that part. It could be a very interesting mechanic, though, could be a good Loyalty leader. Oooh, or Amenirdis could be a very cool Unique Governor. Maybe a Amani/Moksha hybrid as some kind of religious diplomat?
Piye - Son of Kashta. The first official Pharaoh of the 25th Dynasty. Wages a holy war in the name of Amun to conquer Lower Egypt (the northern half), sailing up the Nile with soldiers trained to perform Amun's traditional rituals to win the support of the people. Fairly tolerant of the local petty kings, simply demanding vassalage from them. Several submitted without even a fight. Returned to Nubia after the conquest ended, never returning to his new territory again. Should definitely have some kind of domination focus, probably on Holy Wars. Or maybe a bonus to conquer cities which share your main religion?
Shebitku - Son of Piye. Doesn't have any particularly exciting developments. Reconquers some Egyptian rebels (apparently), moves capital into Egypt to watch them better. Maybe one of you can think of a leader ability around that. He's just not as interesting (to me) as the others.
Shabaka - Brother of Shebitku. May have co-ruled with him. Difficult for historians to distinguish. But! He was apparently an important figure as far as his architectural legacy. He built many new monuments and restored many of the old ones. He also managed to preserve some of the ancient sacred texts with the Shabaka Stone. There's probably tons of potential for a leader ability there.
Taharqa - Brother to the above two. Arguably the most famous? His lost a few wars to the Assyrians, who show up and decide to start brutally pillaging everything as usual. Aside from that, however, he is generally considered the zenith of this kingdom, and is still celebrated in Sudan. He had a long and prosperous reign, building impressive temples and the largest of the Nubian pyramids. He also shows up in the Bible briefly to save Judea from Sennacherib. Unfortunately this attracted said unwanted Assyrian attention, so he later gets curb-stomped by Sennacherib's Esarhaddon, narrowly escaping capture and fleeing (his family wasn't so lucky). But then Esarhaddon leaves to go focus on other wars and Taharqa comes back and reconquers everything. Esarhaddon comes back, but succumbs to... whatever the heck he had (his scribes' medical records are fascinating but pretty gross), and so the Assyrians leave again and Taharqa gets to stick around a bit longer. Then finally Ashurbanipal shows up with a small but deadly force and kicks Taharqa out for good. So yeah, I'm having trouble thinking of an obvious leader ability to sum his reign up, but he's way too historically important to ignore.
Tantamani - Nephew of Taharqa, son of Shabaka. The guy who lost Egypt for good. Womp womp. Briefly retakes some land from Ashurbanipal before getting utterly trounced. For his troubles, Thebes gets hit by one of Assyria's infamously brutal sackings. Obviously not a particularly great leader choice, I'm just listing him for closure.

Afterwards Egypt ends up under a native dynasty that starts attacking Nubia and the descendants of these kings move further south. Where, incidentally, they stayed in power for centuries... their successors including none other than Civ's very own Amanitore!

So that's the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty for you. Of the above, I think the best choices for a dual-civ leader for Nubia/Egypt would clearly be Kashta, Piye, Shabaka, or Taharqa. What do you guys think? What could their abilities or agendas be and how should they interact with the rest of those two civs' features?
 
I feel it should be Shabaka as he restored the Egyptian traditions of Monarchy and administration according to wiki:

Shabaka restored the great Egyptian monuments and returned Egypt to a theocratic monarchy by becoming the first priest of Amon. In addition, Shabaka is known for creating a well-preserved example of Memphite theology by inscribing an old religious papyrus into the Shabaka Stone.
 
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